Hospital glove

ABSTRACT

A hospital glove consisting of two thin sheets of thermoplastics material cut to shape and heat sealed round the edges to form a glove with a thumb recess, an index finger recess and a single recess for the other three fingers. The glove extends up to the wearer&#39;&#39;s elbow. The shape of the glove differs from that of a normal hand in that it is approximately twice as wide in the region corresponding to the hand.

United States Patent Vilain HOSPITAL GLOVE [72] Inventor: Raymond Vilain, Saint-Cloud,

France [73] Assignee: Rhone-Poulence S.A., Paris, France [22] Filed: Dec. 9, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 96,450

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 9, 1969 France ..6942554 [52] US. Cl. ..2/161 R [51] Int. Cl. ..A4ld 19/02 [58] Field of Search ..2/158, 159, 161,167,168, 2/ 162, 169

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,976,540 3/1961 Sutherland ..2/161 R 2,773,264 12/1956 Nover ..2/159 51 Aug. 15, 1972 Gerard ..2/169 X 3,059,241 10/ 1962 OBrien et a1. ..2/ 167 3,541,609 11/1970 Povlacs et al ..2/168 2,643,388 6/1953 Curtis ..2/158 3,025,403 3/1962 Belknap et al. ..2/ 168 X 3,391,406 7/1968 Lucas ..2/161 Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Attorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher ABSIRACT A hospital glove consisting of two thin sheets of thermoplastics material cut to shape and heat sealed round the edges to form a glove with a thumb recess, an index finger recess and a single recess for the other three fingers. The glove extends up to the wearers elbow. The shape of the glove differs from that of a normal hand in that it is approximately twice as wide in the region corresponding to the hand.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures nosPrrAr. GLOVE The present invention relates to a glove which can principally be used as a hospital glove.

It is known that when replacing dressings there is a risk of spreading infection if the soiled dressings are handled with bare hands or if they come into accidental contact with other objects. Also, in many cases it is necessary to avoid contact with biological or dangerous products.

The use of known gloves makes it possible to protect the worker, but does not solve the problem of actual and harmless disposal of soiled dressings or other waste.

Throw-away gloves made of polyethylene film are extensively used; however, these known gloves can for practical purposes not be used in the cases indicated above because they are somewhat difficult to take ofl, and the protection which they offer is inadequate; furthermore they do not allow voluminous dangerous waste to be isolated.

According to the present invention there is provided a glove, the length of which is that of a normal adult hand and forearm, having a sleeve portion, a first separate recess for the thumb, a second separate recess for the index finger, and a third single recess for the other three fingers of the hand, said third recess being twice the width of the three fingers of said hand, the part of the glove corresponding to the palm being twice the width of the palm of said hand, the length of the palm portion and of said recesses being that of the corresponding palm, fingers and thumb of said hand.

Preferably, the thumb recess forms an angle of between 40 and 70 with the index finger recess.

By normal finger, hand and forearm there are understood the fingers of one hand, the hand and the forearm of a man of 1.75 m height, in accordance with the normal standards.

The bare hand now grips the other glove by the top of the sleeve and pulls it in the direction of the fingers. The glove turns inside out with the greatest of ease and entirely covers the dressing and the other glove which were held by this hand. The fingers can then relax their grip, and the hand is withdrawn from the glove while the whole of the glove and of the dressing are enveloped by the glove which has been turned inside out and are isolated from any external contact. They can no longer be brought into contact with other objects. Only the face of the glove which has been turned inside out can remain in contact with them and all risk of infection is hence eliminated. The packet formed by the gloves and the dressing can be thrown away without special precaution.

The glove may, of course, be used for other purposes; the case quoted however clearly shows that the glove according to the invention is above all particularly valuable for the disposal of dangerous or dirty waste.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, the following two examples of embodiments of the invention are described, reference being made to 5 the accompanying drawings, in which FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate respectively the gloves of examples 1 and 2.

EXAMPLE 1 Two high pressure polyethylene films of 60 microns thickness are superposed, welded byapplying a heated template, and cut along the contour shown in FIG. 1. The glove consists of a sleeve 1, a recess for the thumb 2, and a recess for the index finger 3, and a recess for the three other fingers 4.

The length of the glove is measured from the tip of the index finger recess to the edge of the sleeve along a line b perpendicular to the edge of the sleeve; the width of the glove at the base of the thumb recess is measured along the line a passing through the middle point M.

To produce a glove according to one embodiment of 40 Th xi of th thumb rec ss is the line passing through the invention, two thermoplastic films of thickness between 20 and 200 microns, and preferably 25 to 80 microns, are superposed; they are combined by hotwelding following the external outline of the glove and are cut along this outline, it being possible to carry out these two operations simultaneously.

As the thermoplastic film it is possible to use a film of any customary thermoplastic, polyethylene films and plasticized polyvinyl chloride films being preferred.

The glove according to the invention has the advantage that it can be put on without difficulty and easily taken off by turning inside out, or by pulling on one of the finger recesses.

Its use ofiers great advantages: for example, in orde to take off a soiled dressing the worker puts on the gloves (he is thus protected up to the elbow) and cuts the dressing with the customary scissors (the presence of a thumb and an index finger making the operation easy).

Placing the scissors in a sterilizable container prevents spreading of the infection by this means.

The dressing is taken off by means of the two gloved hands and it is then held in one hand while with the same hand the other glove is gripped by one of the the tip of the thumb recess and the intersection of lines a and b.

The axis of the glove is the straight line passing through the base of the edge of the index finger recess on the side towards the recess for the said three other fingers and through the middle point of the distance between the base of the thumb recess and the edge of the glove on the side of the recess for the said three other fingers.

The gloves display the following characteristics:

the edge d is parallel to the axis of the glove,

the end e of the sleeve is at right angles to edge d,

the edge 0 forms an angle of 15 with the edge d, and

the axis of the thumb forms an angle of 55 with the axis of the glove.

The sizes are as follows (measured on the flat glove): the width at the base of the thumb recess a 200 mm; the total length b 480 mm; the length of the sleeve M up to the rounded part of the recess for the three fingers is 400 mm; the length of the side c of the sleeve from the base of the thumb recess is 340 mm; and the width of the sleeve e 280 mm. The other respective dimensions are those shown in the figure.

Two identical such gloves constitute a pair of gloves according to the invention.

If desired, the gloves, placed in a closed cardboard box, may be sterilized by the action of 'y -rays.

Such gloves can be used in surgery.

EXAMPLE 2 A sleeve of high pressure polyethylene, pigmented white, obtained by extrusion-blowing, and of 30 microns thickness, is used. The two faces of this sleeve are welded and cut simultaneously by applying a heated template in accordance with the contour shown in FIG. 2

A glove is obtained which can be equally well put on either hand.

The glove possesses a sleeve 1, a recess for the thumb 2, a recess for the index finger 3, and a recess for the three other fingers, 4.

The dimensions of the glove are measured as in the previous example.

The axis of the thumb recess forms an angle of 43 with the axis of the glove.

The recess for the three fingers forms an angle of 22 with the axis of the glove.

When flat, the glove has the following dimensions: total length b 490 mm; width at the base of the thumb a 190 mm; thumb recess: width at the base 60 mm, length 70 mm; recess for the index finger: width at the base 45 mm, length 75 mm; recess for the three fingers: width at the base 90 mm, length 80 mm; sleeve: length from the base of the thumb recess 320 mm, width e 265 mm, angle between the sides d and c 15.

This glove can be used as a throw-away glove for replacing bandages and pemiits easy use of scissors and tweezers.

We claim:

1. A glove for a normal adult human hand adapted to be worn while removing a surgical dressing and to be easily removed and wrapped about the dressing for disposal thereof, said glove comprising a palm portion at least about twice the width of the palm of the said hand, a thumb stall, an index finger stall and a third stall for the remaining three fingers which is at least about twice the width of the three fingers, and a sleeve portion flaring outwardly from adjacent the thumb stall into an open ended elongated sleeve of gradually increasing cross-section which is adapted to fit loosely about the palm and forearm.

2. A glove according to claim 1 wherein the thumb recess forms an angle of between 40 and with the index finger recess.

3. A glove according to claim 1 made of a heatwelded thermoplastics film of between 20 and 200 microns thickness. 

1. A glove for a normal adult human hand adapted to be worn while removing a surgical dressing and to be easily removed and wrapped about the dressing for disposal thereof, said glove comprising a palm portion at least about twice the width of the palm of the said hand, a thumb stall, an index finger stall and a third stall for the remaining three fingers which is at least about twice the width of the three fingers, and a sleeve portion flaring outwardly from adjacent the thumb stall into an open ended elongated sleeve of gradually increasing cross-section which is adapted to fit loosely about the palm and forearm.
 2. A glove according to claim 1 wherein the thumb recess forms an angle of between 40 and 70* with the index finger recess.
 3. A glove according to claim 1 made of a heat-welded thermoplastics film of between 20 and 200 microns thickness. 